Wisdom

Admin
4 days ago
2 min read

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23. 27. - 39

What makes one wise? According to Mr. A. I. Google, wisdom is "the skillful, God-honoring application of truth in everyday life, starting with reverence for God ("fear of the Lord"), leading to good judgment, righteousness, and a virtuous life, distinct from worldly, self-centered wisdom."

As we walk through Advent, pondering our call to prepare home and heart for the coming of the Christ Child, does the call include tapping into the definition of Wisdom above, capital W intended. In the passage from Matthew appointed for today, Jesus clearly exposes the scribes and the Pharisees as the false wise...looking righteous to others and wise and beautiful on the outside, but full of hypocrisy and lawlessness on the inside.

As we labor to be wise (as serpents and innocent as doves), what hypocrisy and lawlessness must we rid ourselves of? Earlier in Matthew, Jesus said, "Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." God’s wisdom reveals itself in action, not appearances. What actions are we called to and what appearances could we give up? In this time of Advent, may I turn towards God, and open my heart and my hopes to the Christ Child, serving him in my thoughts and actions with all that I say and do.